How can you coach active listening skills in the workplace?

An interesting way to assess listening skills in your team is to use gamification. There are multiple ways of going about it but here is one example. Ask members of your team to describe the work and responsibility of their colleagues. It's a great exercice to help people bond as they feel understood and considered by other members. Everyone will feel that their contribution to the team is being valued and respected.

From my experience, people often listen to answer instead of listening to hear. So this is what I mean by this, when people are working on something with a team, they want to be responsive, so they listen to the conversation to answer questions they think they will be asked, or interpret these questions as problems that need to be solved. But if listened to the questions and tried to hear exactly what was being said instead of just answering the questions, then might find more information and/or could ask better follow-up questions to gather more intel. A good exercise for this is the 3-way conversation. 2 people have a conversation by asking questions, and 3rd person moderates to help with answering versus hearing.

I believe if you have a team the first thing you need to be is a role model. Only by demonstrating active listening skills can you begin to coach anyone. Very often people say how they learned to be a team leader was from one they experienced. So, this maybe assumed, but in my opinion, can be invaluable

Top indicators to evaluate listening skills: 1. Active Listening Indicators: Evaluate non-verbal and verbal cues. Nodding, maintaining eye contact, and showing attentive body language. 2. Paraphrasing and Summarizing: Paraphrasing or summarizing what has been said to confirm understanding. 3. Asking Relevant Questions: Asking questions that are pertinent to the topic being discussed. This demonstrates engagement and critical thinking about the information. 4. Reflecting Emotions: Acknowledging the emotions behind what is being said, showing empathy and understanding of the speaker's perspective. 5. Avoiding Interruptions: Allowing the speaker to finish their points without interrupting, showing respect for the speaker’s thoughts.

From my aspect, the most important to coach active listening are: - Avoid interrupting when you’re actively listening to understand. - Listen without judgment and focus on what they have to say to understand the point of view of the other person.

7 steps to model attentive listening: Eye Contact: Keep a relaxed eye contact with the speaker to show that you are focused and engaged. Show Understanding: Nod or use other affirmative gestures or sounds. Reflect and Paraphrase: Periodically summarize or paraphrase what the speaker has said to show you are processing the information correctly. Open-Ended Questions: Prompt elaboration by asking open-ended questions that cannot be answered with a 'yes' or 'no'. No Interrupting: Let the speaker finish their thoughts without interruption. Appropriate Facial Expressions: Your facial expressions should be congruent with the speaker’s message. Engaged Body Language: Lean slightly forward or position your body towards the speaker.

3 key things to remember 1- Improved Understanding- active listening fosters a deeper comprehension of colleagues perspective, leading to better problem solving. 2- Building Trust- it cultivates trust and rapport by showing respect and genuine interest in others viewpoints. 3- Conflict Resolution- reduces misunderstandings and conflicts by promoting clear communication and early issue identification. Active listening is a powerful tool in the workplace that leads to better communication, stronger relationships, improved problem solving and a more harmonious work environment.

Poser des questions ouverte permettra non seulement d'engager la conversation de façon approfondi mais aussi de permettre aux gens de votre équipe de donner des clarifications sur des point qui vous ont échappé

Modeling active listening is important - it's tough to teach someone something if you don't do it yourself. An exercise to practice active listening is highly effective, especially when you model it during the debriefing.

A great tool to use is the LSD Listen Summarize Deepen Listen - listen to understand not to reply. You have to be in the right mindset for that. Summarize through paraphrasing for example. It shows that you have listened, it ensures you are checking whether you understood what they meant, and it gives you time to reflect and not react. Deepen - this is helpful when you are talking to someone who is not very talkative or is shy. Open ended questions are a great way. Instead of asking: Did everything go well? Only answer: Yes/No Tell me how things went and how you felt about it...

as part of a meaningful work strategy and action plan, team members need to be able to communicate better and that includes listening and sharing ;)

La force aussi de cette méthode c'est de permettre à l'équipe de donner des feedbacks concernant ce que vous faites afin de vous permettre d'améliorer vos actions et pratiques

Positive reinforcement is such a powerful tool. Unfortunately, when we feel stress we go into stress response. We forget the positive and focus on the negative. The discomfort we feel makes us want to tell the negative immediately and forget about the positive. This makes the other person shut down or defensive and unable to process information further, because they are stuck on the negative. I see this with my son, whenever I highlight what he is doing wrong - he keeps doing it. When I bite my tongue, and praise him when he is doing something right - meaning cleaning up his mess in his room, he does it more often. It takes a lot of patience, self-discipline and self-awareness to consistently provide positive reinforcement.

3 very key points: 1- Specificity- offers precise details on what was done well or needs improvement. 2. Timeliness- provide feedback promptly after the event or action to reinforce its impact. 3- frame feedback positively and offer actionable steps for improvement or reinforcement.

Un ejemplo podría ser dar una instrucción y que la persona realice la acción luego validar si entendió todos los puntos , esto debido a que si considero que todas las personas tienen diferente percepción de las cosas , así que se debe aprender a desarrollar esa parte que es lo que según el caso debería ser para mi lo más relevante

I like to use improvisation techniques such as using non-verbal communciation skills while others have to guess in verbal communication what you are trying to say. This heightens all of our senses, we become laser focused and attentive. These skills are crucial for active listening to pick up on both verbal and non-verbal skills.

The most effective exercise that I've found is a three-way conversation with one person speaking, one active listening, and one observing. This helps reinforce both by doing and by seeing.

Actividad: Conducta una actividad de "Parejas de Palabras". Cada persona tiene una palabra asignada y su pareja, otra relacionada. La tarea es hablar sobre sus palabras sin interrupciones. El oyente debe captar no solo la palabra, sino también el tono emocional. Al final, comparten lo que entendieron. Esto refuerza la escucha activa, la comprensión profunda y la capacidad de percibir las emociones detrás de las palabras.

Un ejemplo podría ser grabar la conferencia verla varias veces y tratar de encontrar los diferentes enfoques según el equipo de trabajo , con esto no solamente practicamos las habilidades de escucha si no que se puede dar a conocer de qué forma lo percibe cada uno

3 key things to remember: 1- Open Mindedness- embrace diverse perspectives actively while listening to peers. 2- Engagement: Encourage questions and discussions to deepen peer learning experiences. 3- Supportive Environment: Foster a safe space where everyone's contributions are valued. Active listening fosters peer learning by valuing diverse viewpoints, encouraging Engagement, and nurturing a supportive atmosphere.

Encouraging peer learning to improve active listening skills in the workplace can contribute to a more effective and empathetic team. Organize workshops or training sessions focused on active listening skills.Establish a peer coaching or pairing system where team members can work together to improve their active listening skills.Conduct role-playing exercises that simulate workplace scenarios.Encourage a culture of constructive feedback.Empower team members who excel in active listening to lead workshops or training sessions.Discuss real-life scenarios from the workplace where active listening could have been beneficial.Organize group discussions.Foster a culture of continuous improvement..

Encouragez les retours constructifs, diversifiez les expériences d'apprentissage, favorisez la réflexion personnelle, ajoutez des exercices pratiques, intégrez l'écoute active dans la culture, partagez des ressources et évaluez l'écoute active.

También un ejemplo podría ser visitar un cliente en conjunto con su par y después de cada visita validar los puntos importantes de cada reunión para que de esta forma se evalúe o se caiga en cuenta que interpreto cada uno

Scientific Research claims that people with good sleeping habits are active listeners. Brain is trained to shut off other noises and focus on one task at a time if the person has consistent good sleep of 6-8 hours per day. Meditation and Breathing Exercises like Pranayama can help with good sleeping habits.

La escucha activa de modo orgánico se deriva de la empatía y la conexión con el otro. Si está faltando escucha activa habría que preguntarse por la calidad del vínculo. Acercar a las personas, generar espacios para que cada uno reconozca la importancia del otro y del mensaje del otro; así como la de su intervención (lo que yo le ofrezco al otro), naturalmente da lugar a la escucha activa. Las habilidades de comunicación (que comienzan con la escucha) en su aspecto más superficial y a su vez menos permanente, refieren a herramientas que repiten modelos prácticos; pero su raíz y resolución está realmente en la conexión. Si quiero que en mi equipo nos escuchemos con una escucha atenta y sostenida, puedo comenzar por tener tiempos de encuentro.

Remember that active listening is a skill and doesn't necessarily come easily to everybody. Other factors can come into play too -- when someone is feeling triggered or upset, they may be too engrossed to listen closely. Knowing this, I'd suggest building a foundation of questions as a starting point. For instance, with new managers who typically do more talking than listening ::ahem::, they could ask their reports these questions: * What did you learn this week? * How did you learn it? * What was something that was harder than expected this week? What made it difficult? * Or start with this -- what is top of mind for you? is there anything you'd like to discuss? Try this for a week of 1:1s and see how much more you learn.

If you remember one thing that is more of an organic skill than learned is to pay attention, to observe. Become emotionally self-aware so that when you have unmet needs, it is going to be difficult to listen actively with empathy to someone else. Because your discomfort of unmet needs will hinder your ability to focus on what someone else is going through. So observe yourself through a lens of compassion, and prepare yourself in the right mindset frame to listen actively.

Carl Rogers' Active Listening Framework–ERNU: Empathetic Listening: Understanding the speaker's feelings and perspectives, going beyond the words to grasp the emotional context of what is being said. Reflective Responses: Repeating or paraphrasing what the speaker has said to show understanding and encourage further expression. It's not just about repeating words; it's about conveying the emotions and meanings behind them. Non-Directive Approach: Refraining from giving advice or directing the conversation. Instead, they facilitate the speaker's self-exploration and self-discovery. Unconditional Positive Regard: Accepting and respecting the speaker without judgment, creating a safe environment for open communication.